FRANKTOWN, Colo. — A man accused of killing two people, including his sister, near Franktown in 2022 will be sentenced on Monday after pleading guilty to two counts of second-degree murder.
Casey Devol, 31, also pleaded guilty to one count of felony animal cruelty. Two counts of first-degree murder after deliberation were dismissed.
His sister Jessica Mitchell, 32, and her boyfriend Todd Gray, 34, were found dead in the garage of their home on Feb. 8, 2022.
Gray's family didn't want the district attorney's office to take a plea deal. They hoped to see the case go to trial to try to find some answers.
The trial was scheduled to happen this week, but now on Monday a court in Douglas County will sentence Devol on the lesser charges.
Second-degree murder is eligible for parole, whereas a conviction of first-degree murder means life behind bars.
"The DA feels, and the judge, I believe, feels, that this is life. That this will be his natural life," Todd Gray's mother Lonna Gray said.
"Essentially, they think he will die in prison," his sister Lindsey Bingel said. "But there is a possibility he doesn't, and I think that is the part we are struggling with, that he took two lives but he doesn't have to pay with his life."
An arrest affidavit said Mitchell was lying on her back and appeared to have a gunshot wound to her stomach. Gray was to her right and appeared to have trauma to his head, which the deputy suspected was a gunshot wound, the affidavit said.
His family wanted a trial so the community could hear some of the evidence too.
"Jessica had an audio recorder on her body during the whole thing," Lonna Gray said.
"He taunts them," Bingel said, describing the audio and video. "He mocks them. He calls them names. He hums to himself as he stages the body."
They know some of the details, but not everything. The motive is still a mystery.
"We realize we will get all of the evidence afterwards. We will get all of the discovery. We will get it on our own. I think it makes a big difference when the professionals are presenting it," Lonna Gray said.
Instead of taking the time to comb through pages of documents to piece everything together, they wish testimony in a courtroom could have done it for them.
Devol's sentencing will mark the end of this process, but it won't stop a family's search for answers.
"I understand why [prosecutors] did it, but we still don't have the evidence. We didn't get to go through the whole trial process of what he did and why he did it," Todd Gray's father Bryan Gray said. "It will be nice to have this chapter behind us whether we like it or not, but then we get the evidence and have to go through it."
Todd Gray left behind two daughters. His family said the oldest is asking a lot of questions too. They said it's been heartbreaking to tell her they don't have answers either.
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